unary

Part of the TechTarget Network of Enterprise IT Web Sites

Search our IT-specific encyclopedia for:
 
Browse alphabetically:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #
All Categories Computing Fundamentals

unary

The term unary defines operators in Boolean ( binary ) algebra, trinary algebra, arithmetic, and set theory . Sometimes a unary operation is called a monadic operation or a singulary operation.

In Boolean algebra , there is only one unary operation, known as negation. This operation changes the value of the bit (binary digit) from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0.

In trinary algebra, which involves three-level logic with states that can be represented by the numbers -1, 0, and 1, there are five unary operators. They are called invert, rotate-up, rotate-down, shift-up, and shift-down. The actions performed by these operators are denoted in the following table.

Input Invert Rotate-up Rotate-down Shift-up Shift-down
-11010-1
001-11-1
1-1-1010

In common arithmetic, the unary operators are negation, the reciprocal, and the absolute value. Negation involves reversing the sign of a number. For example, the negation of 4 is -4, and the negation of -23 is 23. The reciprocal involves dividing 1 by the number. Thus, the reciprocal of 4 is 1/4, and the reciprocal of -23 is -1/23. The absolute value involves reversing the sign of a number if it is negative, and leaving the number unchanged if it is 0 or positive. Thus, the absolute value of 4 is 4, and the absolute value of -23 is 23.

In set theory, there is one unary operator, called complementation. Given a set S that is a subset of some universal set U , the complement of S , written S' , is the set containing all elements of U that are not in S .











Last updated on: Oct 10, 2007

>  Enterprise Software related Research & News
>  White Papers for the Retail Industry

Are you a Know-IT-All?
How much did Tim Berners Lee profit financially from creating the Web?
Answer (Scroll to the third paragraph.)

word of the day Get the Word of the Day
twitter Follow us on Twitter

WORD OF THE DAY...
Tower of Hanoi
LEARN MORE ABOUT...
Tape rotation schemes
USA Contributors
Worldwide Contributors
Awards and Recognition
Our 60+ tech-specific sites
WhatIs.com RSS Feeds
About Us   |   Contact Us   |   For Advertisers   |   For Business Partners   |   Reprints   |   RSS   |   Awards
TechTarget provides enterprise IT professionals with the information they need to perform their jobs - from developing strategy, to making cost-effective IT purchase decisions and managing their organizations' IT projects - with its network of technology-specific Web sites, events and magazines.

TechTarget Corporate Web Site  |  Media Kits  |  Reprints




All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2008, TechTarget | Read our Privacy Policy
  TechTarget - The IT Media ROI Experts